What just happened?
The phrase said around the world last night after Will Smith seemingly slapped Chris Rock in the face on the Oscars stage last night. Some background: at the Oscars last night, Chris Rock came onstage to present the award for Best Documentary Feature. He opened with some jokes, and made a joke about Will’s wife Jada. The joke was: “Jada, I love you. G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see it!”. Smith walked up onstage, and promptly slapped Rock in the face and went back to his seat. While censored in the US, Smith was heard yelling, “keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth!”.
The whole thing was quite bizarre, and has some context beforehand. First off, the Smiths probably weren’t too thrilled with Rock in the first place, stemming from last time Rock hosted the Oscars in 2016. Rock made a joke about Jada expressing dissatisfaction that Will was not nominated for his role in the film Concussion. Second off, there is a reason behind Jada’s shaved head. She announced last year she was shaving her head due to alopecia, a form of hair loss.
So what do we make of all this?
Instantly, my first thought is that what Smith did is straight up assault. Look, I am all for defending your significant other but what he did was way out of line. Was the joke in bad taste? Yes, it was. Did Rock know about Jada’s struggle with alopecia? You’d have to ask him, but it doesn’t excuse Smith for what he did. If you look at it simply, he did not like the joke that a comedian made and therefore thought it was okay to go onstage and hit him over it. And with all due respect, the joke is not the worst thing I’ve ever heard at someone’s expense. I’ve heard worse in Comedy Central Roasts and in my own life to be honest. Earlier in the show, host Regina Hall made jokes about Will and Jada’s open relationship, alluding to when it was revealed that Jada cheated on Will a few years ago. So he lets that go but later on slaps Chris Rock over a far more tame joke? Come on.
The other thing I find mind boggling is that a little over a half hour later, when Smith won Best Actor for King Richard, he was given a standing ovation. Smith tearfully apologized to the Academy; but not Rock, and hoped they’d invite him back. Smith went on about how his character Richard Williams was a fierce defender of family and protecting his cast members, and wanting to be a vessel of love.…a half hour after slapping a presenter across the face. I like Will Smith, I do. I’ve seen a lot of his movies and enjoyed them, but I hope he doesn’t get away with this kind of behavior. It’s a bad look for the Academy and it’s a bad look for Hollywood in general.
The Academy has a decision to make here. This kind of behavior, no matter the circumstances, must not be repeated. The general public already has strong, mostly negative opinions of the Oscars already, and I’m sure the Academy doesn’t want to be seen as letting something go because it was a famous person. Imagine if I was at the Oscars and Chris Rock made a joke about my fiancé that I didn’t like. If I walked up there, assuming I’d make it to the stage, and slapped Rock in the face, I’d be hauled out of the theater so fast and arrested for assault. Is there no repercussions for someone like Will Smith? Smith defended his wife, I get it. But violence is not the answer, especially on the global stage like the Oscars. The Academy did address this late last night, saying: "The Academy does not condone violence of any form. Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world." But we let someone slap a presenter then go right back to his seat for the rest of the show? We're going to need a little bit more than that, Academy.
Like I said, I’m a fan of Will Smith. But after this, he’s fallen a few pegs in my book. He took what was supposed to be his most proudest professional moment and ruined it, because unfortunately what everyone will remember about these Oscars is the moment he struck Chris Rock. He should be ashamed of himself and embarrassed, and I feel for the Williams family to have their moment tainted in the process. I also find it troubling that Smith was partying it up after the awards, also saying it was a “beautiful night”. It was far from that unfortunately. The Oscars was a record-breaking night for a variety of reasons, CODA winning Best Picture, Troy Kotsur becoming the first deaf male actor to win an Oscar, Ariana DeBose became the first openly queer woman of color to win an acting Oscar. But what most people will remember about this Oscars is Will Smith slapping Chris Rock across the face.
And it’s a damn shame.